MARAGHA

maragha, a town of persia in the province of azerbaijan, on the safi river, in 37° 23 n., 46° 16 e., 80 m. from tabriz. pop. about 16,000. it is pleasantly situated in a narrow valley running nearly north and south at the eastern extremity of a well-cultivated plain opening towards lake urmia, which lies 18 m. to the west. the town is encompassed by a high wall ruined in many places, and has four gates. two stone bridges in good condition, said to have been constructed during the reign of hulaku khan (1256-1265), and since then several times repaired, lead over the safi river on the western side of the town. the place is surrounded by extensive vineyards and orchards, all well watered by canals led from the river, and producing great quantities of fruit for exportation to russia. on a hill west of the town are the remains of a famous observatory (_rasad_) constructed under the direction of the great astronomer nasr-ud-din of tus. the hills west of the town consist of horizontal strata of sandstone covered with irregular pieces of basalt and the top of the hill on which the observatory stood was made level by taking away the basalt. the building, which no doubt served as a citadel as well, enclosed a space of 380 yds. by 150, and the foundations of the walls were 41⁄2 to 5 ft. in thickness. the marble, which is known throughout persia as maragha marble, is a travertine obtained at the village of dashkesen (turkish for "stone-breakers") about 30 m. north-west from maragha. it is deposited from water, which bubbles up from a number of springs in the form of horizontal layers, which at first are thin crusts and can easily be broken, but gradually solidify and harden into blocks with a thickness of 7 to 8 in. it is a singularly beautiful substance, being of pink, greenish, or milk-white colour, streaked with reddish, copper-coloured veins. an analysis of the marble gave the following result: calcium carbonate, 90.93; magnesium, .75; iron, 1.37; manganese, 4.34; calcium sulphate, 2.30; calcium phosphate, .24 (r. t. gunther, _geog. journ._ xiv. 517). maranhao, or maranham (span. _maranon_, the name given to the upper amazon), a northern state of brazil, bounded n. by the atlantic, e. and s.e. by piauhy, s.w. and w. by goyaz and para. area, 177,569 sq. m.; pop. (1890), 430,854; (1900), 499,308. the coastal zone and the north-west corner of the state belong to the amazon valley region, being a heavily forested plain traversed by numerous rivers. the eastern and southern parts, however, belong to the lower terraces of the great brazilian plateau, broken by eroded river-courses between which are high open plains. there are no true mountain ranges in maranhao, those indicated on the maps being only plateau escarpments marking either its northern margin or the outlines of river valleys. the climate is hot, and the year is divided into a wet and dry season, extreme humidity being characteristic of the former. the heat, however, is greatly modified on the coast by the south-east trade winds, and the climate is generally considered healthy, though beri-beri and eruptive diseases are common on the coast. the coast itself is broken and dangerous, there being many small indentations, which are usually masked by islands or shoals. the largest of these are the bay of tury-assu, facing which is the island of sao joao, and several others of small size, and the contiguous bays of sao marcos and sao jose, between which is the large island of maranhao. the rivers of the state all flow northward to the atlantic and a majority of them have navigable channels. the parnahyba forms the eastern boundary of maranhao, but it has one large tributary, the balsas, entirely within the state. a part of the western boundary is formed by the tocantins, and another part by the gurupy, which separates the state from para. the principal rivers of the state are the maracassume and tury-assu, the mearim and its larger tributaries (the pindare, grajahu, flores and corda) which discharge into the bay of sao marcos, and the itapicuru and monim which discharge into the bay of sao jose. like the amazon, the mearim has a _pororoca_ or bore in its lower channel, which greatly interferes with navigation. there are a number of small lakes in the state, some of which are, apparently, merely reservoirs for the annual floods of the rainy season. the principal industries of maranhao are agricultural, the river valleys and coastal zone being highly fertile and being devoted to the cultivation of sugar-cane, cotton, rice, coffee, tobacco, mandioca and a great variety of fruits. the southern highlands, however, are devoted to stock-raising, which was once an important industry. troublesome insects, vampire bats, and the failure to introduce new blood into the degenerated herds, are responsible for its decline. agriculture has also greatly declined, the state producing for export only a comparatively small quantity of cotton, rice, sugar and _aguardiente_. besides sao luiz, the capital of the state, the principal towns, with the population of their municipal districts in 1890, are: caxias (19,443), alcantara (4730), carolina (7266), grajahu (11,704), tury-assu (8983) and viana (9965). the coast of maranhao was first discovered by pinzon in 1500, but it was included in the portuguese grant of captaincies in 1534. the first european settlement, however, was made by a french trading expedition under jacques riffault, of dieppe, in 1594, who lost two of his three vessels in the vicinity of the island of maranhao, and left a part of his men on that island when he returned home. subsequently daniel de la rivardiere was sent to report on the place, and was then commissioned by the french crown to found a colony on the island; this was done in 1612. the french were expelled by the portuguese in 1615, and the dutch held the island from 1641 to 1644. in 1621 ceara, maranhao and para were united and called the "estado do maranhao," which was made independent of the southern captaincies. ceara was subsequently detached, but the "state" of maranhao remained independent until 1774, when it again became subject to the colonial administration of brazil. maranhao did not join in the declaration of independence of 1822, but in the following year the portuguese were driven out by admiral lord cochrane and the province became a part of the new empire of brazil. marano (accursed or banned), a term applied to jewish christians in spain. converted to roman catholicism under compulsion, these "new christians" often continued to observe jewish rites in their homes, as the inquisition records attest. it was in fact largely due to the maranos that the spanish inquisition was founded. the maranos made rapid strides in prosperity, and "accumulated honours, wealth and popular hatred" (lea, _history of the spanish inquisition_, i. 125). this was one of the causes that led to the expulsion of the jews from spain in 1492. maranos emigrated to various countries, but many remained in the peninsula. subsequently distinguished individuals left home for more tolerant lands. the jewish community in london was refounded by maranos in the first half of the 17th century. hamburg commerce, too, owed much to the enterprise of portuguese maranos. in amsterdam many maranos found asylum; spinoza was descended from such a family. there are still remnants of marano families in portugal. see lea, _loc. cit._ and elsewhere; see index s.v. "new christian"; graetz, _history of the jews_, eng. trans. see index s.v. "marranos"; m. kayserling, in _jewish encyclopedia_, viii. 318 seq.; and for the present day _jewish quarterly review_, xv. 251 seq. (i. a.) marash (anc. _germanicia-marasion_), the chief town of a sanjak of the same name in the aleppo vilayet, altitude 2600 ft. situated e. of the jihan river, at the foot of mt taurus. the sanjak lies almost wholly in mt taurus, and includes the armenian town of zeitun. marash is prosperous, and has a large trade in kurd carpets and embroideries. the climate is good, except in summer. of the population (50,000) about half are turkish-speaking armenians. there are a college, church and schools belonging to the american mission, a native protestant church and a jesuit establishment. the site, which lies near the mouths of the three main passes over the eastern taurus--viz. those descending from geuksun (cocysus), albistan-yarpuz (arabissus), and malatia (melitene)--is shown to have had early importance, not only by the occurrence of _marasi_ in assyrian inscriptions, but by the discovery of several "hittite" monuments on the spot. these, said to have been unearthed, for the most part, near the kirk geuz spring above the modern town, are now in constantinople and america, and include an inscribed lion, once built into the wall of the citadel known in the middle ages as al-marwani, and several _stelae_. no more is known of the place until it appears as germanicia-caesarea, striking imperial coins with the head of l. verus (middle of 2nd cent. a.d.). the identification of marash with germanicia has been disputed, but successfully defended by sir w. m. ramsay; and it is borne out by the armenian name _kermanig_, which has been given to the place since at least the 12th century. before the roman period marash doubtless shared the fortunes of the seleucid kingdom of commagene. _germanicia-marasion_ played a great part in byzantine border warfare: heraclius was there in a.d. 640; but before 700 it had passed into saracen hands and been rebuilt by the caliph moawiya. during the 8th and 9th centuries, when the direct pass from cocysus came into military use, marasion (the older name had returned into general use) was often the byzantine objective and was more than once retaken; but after 770, when mansur incorporated it in "palestine" it remained definitely in moslem power and was refortified by harun-al-rashid. it was seized by the crusaders after their march across mt taurus, a.d. 1097, became an important town of lesser armenia and was taken by the seljuks in 1147. in the 16th century it was added to the osmanli empire by selim i. marash passed with the rest of syria into egyptian hands in 1832, and in 1839 received fugitives from the defeat of nizib, among whom was moltke. ibrahim pasha was encamped near it when directed by his father, at the bidding of the powers, to stay his further advance. since its reversion to ottoman power (1840) the history of marash has been varied only by armenian troubles, largely connected with the fortunes of zeitun, for the reduction of which place it has more than once been used as a base. there was less disturbance there in 1895-1896 than in other north syrian towns. (d. g. h.)